


Coming Clean

by IStoleLudwigsBaumkuchen



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IStoleLudwigsBaumkuchen/pseuds/IStoleLudwigsBaumkuchen
Summary: Franz finally decides that they should get something off of their chest
Relationships: Austria & Kugelmugel (Hetalia)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Coming Clean

MyMinecraftWorldIsCoolerThanYours - Franz, seriously, he isn’t going to kill you or anything. He’ll probably just shrug and go on.

WhyLiveIfNotForArt - But that’s what I’m afraid of, Erland. It’s not just an interesting fact, it’s me! It’s who I am! It’s what I live and breathe! 

MyMinecraftWorldIsCoolerThanYours - I get that, but there is no way that he’s going to understand. He’s old as hell itself.

WhyLiveIfNotForArt - Mmmmmmmmmmm, fine, but if this goes any other way than “basically fine”, I’m blaming you.

MyMinecraftWorldIsCoolerThanYours - Yeah yeah, now shoo, I wanna build some redstone contraptions!

WhyLiveIfNotForArt - I have no clue how you understand any of that...

MyMinecraftWorldIsCoolerThanYours - I said go do it! 

WhyLiveIfNotForArt - I’m going! I’m going!

Franz looked down at their feet, not sure if they were ready for this.

“Well, i-it’s for art, and it’s better to create art when you first think about it, right? Y-Yeah, I can do it, I think.”

They pulled themself up from their chair and took a deep breath, and made their way into the living room.

“Vati.”

Silence.

“Vati.” They said a little louder this time.

“I heard you the first time, but go ahead, out with it.” Roderich bluntly said, not even looking up from whatever he was reading.

Franz took a deep breath, shakily exhaled, and began.

“I-I just want to start with saying that I want, no, need you to listen to me. This is important to me, and I need more than your silence right now.”

Roderich sighed, sat his book down, and looked them in the eyes.

“I don’t know what is so important that it needs to distract me from my reading, but hurry.”

Franz looked down at their feet, looked up, and continued to speak.

“Thank you, although I can’t hurry this up. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’ll take as long as I need.” They looked down and up again and locked eyes with Roderich. “I-I, well, you’d say I’m a boy, correct?”

“That is the impression I’m given, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Okay, I guess I should just, get this over with, right?” They mentally facepalmed for not just saying it like they planned. “I-I’m not. I’m not a boy, but, I’m not a girl either. I don’t want to be called a boy or a girl, male or female, I’m just, me.” Franz said, watching every syllable confuse their father more and more.

“I’m sorry, but, what?” Roderich just sat there, the small amount of emotion on his face showing nothing but pure bafflement if the sudden crease in his brow was anything to go by.

“M-My gender, it’s not a boy or a girl.” They were starting to regret this.

“Franz, you do know that that isn’t how it works, right?”

“Just, let me explain before you tell me I’m crazy, okay?”

“I wasn’t planning on going that far, although I don’t really have any sort of plan at the moment. Go ahead.” Roderich muttered.

“So, gender, it’s an identity, okay?” He seemed to understand that, at least. “Well, that identity is something you can’t control that is determined by your brain, not what’s, er, down there.” Roderich nodded. “And sometimes, that means you’re just, not a boy or a girl.” This seemed to be the point where they were starting to lose him. “Okay, look. For me, my gender is just there. It’s like a new medium, and it changes. It’s like watercolor, almost. Sometimes it’s feminine, sometimes it’s masculine, sometimes it’s both, and sometimes it’s just, neither. People tend to call it being genderfluid, but to me, it’s just art. It’s my own art and I express it how I see fit, which means it’s sometimes hard to comprehend, but it’s mine, and it doesn’t matter if it’s comprehensible to others.” They tried their best to make it simple, but it might have gotten a tad confusing and jumbled towards the end.

“Franz, I just, why?” Roderich asked, bewildered.

“I don’t know why. It just is.” They tried their best to keep it simple.

“Has it always been this way?” 

“I think so. There’s always been days where it just, didn’t feel right to be a boy. I guess it’s just always been difficult to understand it myself.” 

Roderich just sat there, trying to grasp these concepts. He decided to try and ask something simple.

“Your name, it’s traditionally male, no?”

“I believe so, why?” They knew exactly why, but it was good that he was at least trying now.

“Is there something else you would like me to call you?”

“No, I quite like my name, and would prefer to keep it despite it’s gender associations.” Franz tried to answer as respectfully as possible.

“Is there anything else I should know about this subject?”

“Well, there are days I’d like to use different pronouns, but if you can’t tell of I haven’t made it clear, you can just use they/them.” They tried to explain.

“They/them?” He asked.

“You know, like if you see someone and can’t tell their gender, you refer to that person as “them”, right?” 

“I suppose so. Is there anything else?” Roderich asked.

“I can’t think of anything right now, but there might be in the future.” 

He nodded, sighed and stood up, startling Franz. He backed towards to the couch, and almost sat back down before walking forward and gently placing a hand on their shoulder, causing Franz to freeze. He looked down with a rare, gentle smile.

“Thank you for telling me. I know I might not get it, but I’m glad you told me this.”

Franz looked down, they could feel a tear welling in their eye.

“Hm?”

They looked up, a grin forming on their face. Roderich grimaced.

“Franz, please, I can start to understand your gender, but there is no way I can handle what is going on with your face.”

They looked as though they were about to hug him.

“No, please, none of this. Stop this tomfoolery this instant!”

They began to wrap their arms around him.

“No! Child, stop this now!”

Franz seemed to be content, not caring about the tears moving onto Roderich’s clothes, which was currently causing him to panic. 

“I said stop thi-” He stopped, the frown on his face slowly fading as he tried to comfort the kid.

“Franz, just, know that you can tell me things from time to time, okay?”

“Mhm, okay.” They said. Their voice muffled but clearly tired.

Roderich stood there, growing tired himself, and picked Franz up.

“Huh? What’s going on?” They asked.

“You need to sleep, and I don’t want to deal with stepping over you in the hallway because you decided to take a nap there.”

“Vati, I’m not that tir-” Their sentence was interrupted by a loud yawn.

“Exactly.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed my first work, I know it's far from perfect but there's a first time for everything. It seemed like there was a place for more parental Austria, so I tried to throw something together. If there's anything you found interesting or wanted to point out, feel free to tell me in the comments!


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